Page 36 of The Panther's Price

Lucien didn’t sit. He watched her. He didn’t like what the summit had awakened.

Not in them.

Inhim.

She fell asleep before the fire finished dying.

Exhaustion. Or escape.

He stood above her, jaw tight, shadows coiling in lazy arcs around his boots. His body begged for rest, but his mind wouldn’t quiet.

She was safer here. For now.

And he could leave.

He could walk away. Let the heirs take over. Let her fate fall into other hands. Shewantedto lead, didn’t she? Wanted truth? Then let her find it without him screwing it up further.

He turned to leave. But before he crossed the threshold, her voice cut through the quiet.

“You were really going to go?”

Lucien turned.

Evryn was already sitting up, curls wild, one hand reaching instinctively toward her blade.

She lookedhurt.

And not the kind he was trained to cause.

Her voice trembled with fury. “You thought I’d just be fine with that? After everything?”

Lucien exhaled, trying to stay cold. “You’d be safer here.”

“You don’t get to decide that!”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“No, you were trying to get rid of me before you had to make anotherchoice.”

Lucien flinched.

Evryn rose fully now, fire under her skin. “First you stalk me. Then you save me. Then you nearlykillme. Then you lie. Again. And now what? Just gonna disappear and let me wake up alone in some ruin with strangers?”

“You were nevermineto keep, Evryn!”

The words hit like a slap between them.

Silence.

Cracked and raw.

Lucien stepped forward, eyes blazing. “You think this is easy for me? You think I’m built for this? I’ve spent my whole life doing what I was told—no questions, no guilt, no mercy. Thenyoucome along. You with your eyes and your fire and your damnbeliefthat people like me can change.”

Evryn’s chest rose and fell. “Maybe I was wrong.”

“I can’t protect you from what I am,” he said, voice hoarse.

Evryn’s eyes glistened, but her jaw was set. “I never asked you to.”

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